Niger

Niger is gratified by your election, Sir, to preside over this session and through me assures you of its full support as you carry out the important mission that has been entrusted to you. We wish you every success. I also wish to address to your predecessor, Mr. Jan Kavan of the Czech Republic, my sincere congratulations on the skill, dedication and foresight with which he guided the work of the General Assembly at its fifty-seventh session. I should further like to reiterate Niger’s great appreciation to Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the wisdom and efficiency with which he has guided our Organization in a particularly difficult international context. On 19 August, sadly, international terrorism struck yet another symbol: United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. The attack claimed many lives, including that of the Special Representative of the Secretary- General, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Niger reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of that barbaric act and reviles all terrorist acts committed anywhere in the world. The Government of Niger welcomes our Organization’s determination to provide all necessary assistance to the Iraqi people, despite all the intimidation to which it has been subject. Such determination, however, can achieve results only if the United Nations is given a key role in managing the process of rebuilding a free and democratic Iraq that is the master of its own destiny. The maintenance of international peace and security must remain a priority objective of the United Nations. In this respect, in addition to our ongoing war against international terrorism, we must pursue our efforts to free the world from the specter of weapons of mass destruction and the proliferation of small arms and light weapons. In that connection, the First Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects at the National, Regional and Global Levels noted that, despite progress made since the adoption of the Programme of Action, control of firearms and their use remains limited. That is why Niger firmly supports the elaboration of binding legal instruments on the marking, tracking and sale of such weapons. For Niger, the regional approach must be given pride of place in the settlement of conflicts, since it is 2 increasingly recognized that most conflicts in Africa have a subregional dimension. That is the case in particular in West Africa, where stability in the Mano River region is linked to the situation in Liberia. It is also the case in Central Africa, where stability in the Great Lakes region is linked to the situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Burundi. That is why the Government of Niger feels that the strengthening of regional peacekeeping and security capacities, the cornerstone of the collective security system, must be based on enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations. With regard to the Jammu and Kashmir conflict, Niger believes that, despite the recent incidents, the improved relations between India and Pakistan, which opened diplomatic relations in August, provide an unprecedented opportunity that must be seized to achieve a political settlement through the organization of a referendum on the self-determination of the Kashmiri people, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the Security Council. In the Middle East, the vision of a sovereign and viable Palestinian State, peacefully coexisting with Israel, must become a reality. In this regard, it is more urgent than ever before for the two parties to the conflict to agree to a ceasefire, comprehensive adherence to which would help relaunch the road map, which is showing signs of withering. Moreover, the eventful history of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process — a history marked by recurrent setbacks and dashed hope — requires us to acknowledge that only the presence of an international interposition force can guarantee an end to the bloody violence and create conditions for the effective implementation of agreements. Thus, Niger makes a heartfelt appeal to the United Nations, the Security Council in particular, to ensure that this question be reconsidered with all due attention and in full responsibility in the interest of world peace. Niger is deeply dedicated to the noble ideals of the Charter and therefore strives for regional and global peace and is actively participating in efforts to achieve general and complete disarmament. In that context, my country has always subscribed to the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in order to achieve full transparency in the production, sale and delivery of uranium. That position is reflected in our decade-long cooperation with all actors in the uranium sector. We allow for no ambiguity. Niger continues to be ready, as it has always been, to submit to the authority of the IAEA for any verification related to the production and sale of its uranium. I wish to recall that, in this sphere, my country, in accordance with article III of the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, has accepted, in agreement with the IAEA, the monitoring and guarantee system which, when implemented in good faith as it is in Niger, offers absolutely no opportunity for the kind of clandestine transactions of which my country was so unjustly accused. The Development Goals defined in the historic Millennium Declaration must remain an ongoing concern of the international community and guide global action aimed at the establishment of a stable and just socio-economic order involving greater sharing and solidarity. We cannot overemphasize the fact that the achievement of these Goals requires reflection in specific action of all commitments undertaken at the major international conferences and summits. What in fact have we been seeing? The international scene continues to offer the paradoxical and somewhat ignominious image of a world of enormous wealth in which the overwhelming majority of inhabitants still lives in total destitution. Despite the commitments made and the consensus reached by Governments of the entire world on this issue, we are obliged to note that the terrible vise of poverty, ignorance and disease has only been tightened around the poor peoples of the third world in general and of Africa in particular. When we know, for example, that, six years after the World Food Summit, 815 million people throughout the world continue to suffer from hunger and 150 million children suffer from malnutrition deficiencies, we can readily gauge the feeble support of donors for anti-poverty strategies, despite the lofty statements of intention that are occasionally mouthed. Today more than ever, the situation should pull at the conscience of the international community and inspire us to greater solidarity and determination to fulfil our commitments. It is time to understand once and for all that the reduction of poverty is more than a moral imperative; it is in fact a secure investment in the promotion of a world of peace, prosperity and social progress. 3 It is encouraging to note that, in recent years, Africa has been at the core of major international conferences. From the Brussels Conference on the Least Developed Countries to the Johannesburg Summit, as well as the Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development, the World Economic Forum, the Evian G-8 summit and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Conference in Cancún, to name but a few, Africa has been at the heart of the debates. It should be noted that, while these meetings had the merit of having been convened, unfortunately they did not respond to the urgent and enormous expectations of the continent. In this regard, there is a need to ensure consistency in global economic governance through the strengthening of cooperation among the international organizations and of the compatibility of their decisions. It is only thus that the excessive marginalization of Africa can be alleviated, because this is the appropriate way to bring the promises of increased official development assistance to fruition. Similarly, it is important to increase the flow of direct foreign investment into Africa. Furthermore, given the limited results achieved by current debt-alleviation programmes — the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative in particular — we must now recognize that the ultimate solution lies in the outright cancellation of the debt, the servicing of which is consuming the greater part of the budgets of African countries and fuelling capital flight. There is also a need for Africa’s trade partners fully to comply with their commitments, in particular by improving the access of African products to their markets and by eliminating agricultural subsidies that create distortions in world trade. The failure of the WTO Conference in Cancún is a good illustration of the obstinate reluctance of the rich countries to take into account the legitimate aspirations of the poor countries regarding the establishment of just and equitable standards to govern world trade. And yet, solving the critical problem of agricultural subsidies and of access to markets would have made it possible both to enhance the badly tarnished credibility of the WTO and to provide a measure of consistency to the declarations of intention made by the countries of the North. Above all and unquestionably, it would have contributed to raising millions of people out of poverty. This lack of agreement means that the cotton workers of West Africa, among others, can no longer live from their labour and may be excluded from international trade, to the benefit of more competitive producers who are being subsidized. Cancún was a failed rendezvous of the Doha Round. WTO will certainly have to adopt a new approach and prioritize the settlement of agricultural problems, which most agree are more important than the interests of the multinationals. The countries of Africa are fully aware of the need to develop their relationship with their development partners within the context of interdependence, cooperation and mutual responsibility. In that regard, they acknowledge the importance of judicious national policies and good governance, which they consider to be indispensable to accelerated development and, above all, to achieving the 7 per cent growth rate required to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is inspired by this consensual approach, based on a new relationship of cooperation between Africa and the developed world. NEPAD, a symbol of Africa’s resolve to take its own destiny in hand, is the foundation on which the African Union will rely to promote the growth and sustainable development of African countries, individually and collectively. While we call for a massive flow of investments and the growth of official development assistance to contribute to our development efforts, we, too, must comply with our commitments in terms of mutual responsibility. That is why my country, Niger, firmly supports the implementation of the NEPAD Peer Review Mechanism. The Mechanism will play a key role in the continent’s prospects as an instrument for building strong States dedicated to good governance and sustainable development. In drawing up through a participatory approach a national strategy for poverty reduction, the Government of Niger intends to become deeply involved in the dynamic process of establishing strong, stable and competitive economies in accordance with the objectives of the NEPAD Programme of Action. The strategy document serves simultaneously as a reference framework for poverty reduction policies and programmes and as an instrument to mobilize financial resources. We are convinced that the implementation of the poverty-reduction strategy will contribute to 4 improving the dialogue of policies, to further strengthening donor coordination and intervention, and to developing a multidimensional strategic partnership to translate into action the deepest hopes of the people of Niger. From this rostrum, I solemnly reaffirm the deep gratitude of the Government of Niger to those international partners which, at the poverty-reduction forum held last June in Niamey, proved their full adherence to the strategy and their commitment to supporting its implementation. In recent years, the world has undergone rapid and profound changes. These require us to adapt our Organization’s functions to today’s reality in order to better to take into account the new challenges and legitimate aspirations of the peoples of the planet and not the specific interests of a tiny group of countries, no matter how powerful. That is why Niger firmly supports the courageous reforms proposed by the Secretary-General to strengthen and improve the functioning of the Organization and to allow it effectively to cope with the challenges of our times. The long-awaited democratization of the Security Council must be accompanied by a strengthening of the role of the General Assembly, the highest representative body, and of the Economic and Social Council, the guarantor of the advent of a new economic and social order. The United Nations is at a decisive juncture and must urgently regain the confidence of States and of world public opinion, which has been sorely tested by recent events. It is up to all of us to strive resolutely to that end, because, as the Secretary-General has said, we are the United Nations.